Archive for the ‘Manufacturing and Production’ Category

Every business school student, entrepreneur or consumer product marketer knows and understands the advantages and importance of being the First-Mover in a given
product category. Even those not actively participating in the space instinctively understand that it is best to be first to market with a breakthrough product. First-Mover Advantage (FMA) has become popularized with the dawn of the internet age. However, the concept has been around as long as we have been packaging and selling goods.

An easily explained example of FMA was the introduction of disposable baby diapers to the consumer product marketplace by Proctor & Gamble. P&G discovered a synthetic fiber then only available in Europe. The acquisition of the proprietary fiber enabled disposable diapers to be massed produced at prices that were exceedingly popular with parents. This created a new category and P&G enjoyed a FMA in the disposable diaper space that the Company exploits to this day.

While we instinctively know why a FMA is desirable and of premium value to a product, we often do not anticipate the pressures that can be applied to such a novel new product. This is called a First-Mover Disadvantage (FMD).

One paramount concern is Free-Riders. These are businesses that study a breakthrough product, its Research and Development, manufacturing processes, formula, marketing, etc. and replicate without exposing themselves to the upfront risks that are endemic in launching any breakthrough item. Imitation costs are much lower than
innovation costs. There are successful firms that specialize in this technique.

The Limited was amazingly successful at replicating the style and the detail of couture ladies fashion dress and suit designs, streamlining production, lowering costs and moving customers from boutiques and department stores to their own eponymous shops. RIM, created the Blackberry, a smashing success, only to be almost fully displaced by Apple and Samsung products that studied, improved and advanced on their technology.

Another FMD is the assumption of marketing risk. It can be expensive and difficult to educate retailers and consumers to the features and benefits of a new product. Innovators often exhaust their resources in the development and introduction of their product(s) only to expire before they can be successfully commercialized. The initial mover assumes all of the market creation risk. Subsequent Free-Riders can often fill the void with a version of the alpha product and often are more successful.

Technology shifts often create a changing consumer. Remember the VHS video player? The cassette tapes these bulky units played were an entertainment tsunami. That was until the DVD format was developed and introduced. The smaller compact DVD discs and superior quality literally crushed the purveyors of VHS products within months. Especially with technology, you are never the greatest only the latest. Brother’s typewriters, Eastman Kodak and Polaroid are examples to consider.

Incumbent inertia is another FMD to be guarded against. Some management’s become inflexible, rigid or content to operate the way they have always operated even as markets change. Simply search the list of national and regional retailers that has disappeared in the last 40 years. It is stunning. Major department stores have been bankrupted or merged into more aggressive groups. Sears, once the largest and most successful retailer in the world, is on life support as I write this. They could easily go the way of Montgomery Ward, Circuit City, Mervyns and countless others.

Another sign of incumbent inertia is the inability, or conscious decision not to cannibalize an existing product. The Ford Motor Company was the most successful industrial enterprise in history in the first third of the 20th century. Henry Ford was brilliant but inflexible. The consumer could buy a Model T in any color, as long as it was black. As a result, his firm was displaced by General Motors and its brilliant maestro Alfred Sloan. Sloan designed a stair step series of marketing and brand platforms that moved
consumers from Chevrolet, to Pontiac, to Buick, then Oldsmobile and ultimately to Cadillac as they moved from various stages of life and success.

Charles Revson did the same with Revlon cosmetic, fragrance and skin care products. Revlon in the mid-20th century was the most successful beauty brand in the world. Rather than sit on his laurels Mr. Revson introduced the higher priced Ultima II line and then, for exclusive specialty stores, Etherea was launched. Estee Lauder Cosmetics has accomplished the same with her brands stepping to Clinique, Bobbi Brown, MAC, and Origins among others to successfully fill market niches. Contemporary beauty product and fragrance lines of the day like Erno Laszlo, Imperial Formula and Frances Denney atrophied to nothing as they did not innovate and adapt to market changes.

We advise many of our clients when customizing their Business Plan to anticipate the cannibalization of their product by themselves. If an item is successful it will be copied by others. It is incumbent on innovative entrepreneurs to maximize all possible returns on their investment, creativity and hard work. Replicate and reposition your product before others do!

By garnering the smallest niche within a huge category a product can be hugely successful. This FMA may be tiny but it can be lucrative. Just remember that success breeds copycats. Anticipate that you will experience Free-Riders and plan the appropriate strategy to maximize and safeguard protection for your hard work.

The modern, ubiquitous tuxedo is a staple of most modern gentlemen’s fulsome wardrobes. How the tuxedo, or “dinner jacket”, was initially birthed is an interesting story and entwines a London Saville Row bespoke tailoring house, royalty and an American investment banker. This confluence of influences has influenced how the well-dressed man presents himself for special occasions for a century and a half since the distinctive garment made its first appearance.

Tailless jackets, then called smoking jackets, first became popular in England in the mid-19th century among the landed gentry and royalty as alternatives to tailed suit coats. Distinguished by satin or grosgrain lapels and striping on the outside of pants legs, these suits were much more informal and less cumbersome than the restrictive, uncomfortable waist coated suits worn by gentlemen of that time.

Their popularity was insured when the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, asked his tailor to make him such a suit as an alternative to the waistcoat. Henry Poole & Co., the Prince’s Saville Row bespoke tailors, were tasked with designing and fitting what would become the first formally recognized “smoking jacket’. There are conflicting stories as to the date of the first iteration of what would become known as the tuxedo was crafted. But Henry Poole and Co. has receipts for such a commission dating to the 1860’s. By the 1880’s the Prince was ordering “smoking jackets” from the haberdasher.

During this period the banking firm Brown and Co. was the principal source of letters of credit for international trade payments. In 1886 the Prince of Wales invited the son of the founder of Brown and Co., James Potter Brown a London-based partner in the bank, to visit his estate at Sandringham House for a hunting party. In preparation for the visit Mr. Brown asked the Prince to advise appropriate dress for the various sporting and social functions that were to be enjoyed. The Prince referred Mr. Brown to Henry Poole and Co. where he was fitted for a proper “smoking jacket”.

During a subsequent visit to the fashionable new resort outside New York City called Tuxedo Park James Potter Brown wore his Henry Poole and Co. crafted “smoking jacket” to an elegant soiree. The suit was immediately praised and members of the resort began to demand to be fitted for the garment from their tailors. The connection to Tuxedo Park stuck and the appellation “tuxedo” for the American version of the “smoking jacket” was born.

The introduction of the modern tuxedo drove the creation of an elegant ensemble to be worn for any formal, special occasion from fund raisers to marriage ceremonies. The suit itself has developed a coterie of specialized accessories that have become almost mandatory to complete the classic look of the well dressed gentlemen. Shoes, stylized shirts and collars, studs, the cummerbund, pocket squares and neckwear specific to embellishing the tuxedo are deemed essential to complete the desired sartorial elegance.

Today, the well-dressed gentleman usually owns at least one black tuxedo complete with the requisite array of appropriate accessories. Colors and accompanying accessories now run the gamut from the elegant to the tacky. Nevertheless, whenever a man dresses in a tuxedo he is unwittingly paying a bit of homage to a successful man of commerce, 19th century British royalty and the ageless craftsmanship purveyed by bespoke tailors.

Many Americans are dazzled by the solemnity, richness and dash of Great Britain’s royalty and landed gentry class and their balls, parades, hunts, weddings and state funerals. From Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in the 1950’s to Princess Diana’s wedding and untimely funeral to the spectacular PBS television series Downton Abbey, we are shown glimpses of a world of etiquette, discipline, heritage and beauty far from our own. One firm, holders of Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Warrant, has been ringside for much of this pageantry for the better part of three centuries.

The Toye family was Huguenot refugees. They had fled religious persecution in France and arrived in 1685, settling near what is now Bethnal Green. In France they had been artisans working and crafting lace, silk, embroidery and gold and silver wiring for garments and military embellishments. They continued this work upon settling near London.

By 1784 Guillaume Henry Toye was well established in the trade and had established the firm’s first shop. His grandson William Toye, expanded the business in 1835. In addition to adding a ribbon works, William opened two retail stores near central London to capitalize on the growing demand for uniform and military parade products.

In 1890 facilities were acquired for the weaving of heavy, double-twilled silk products. The trade union movement, Friendly Societies and the Masonic trade was flourishing and Toye seized on the opportunity to accelerate the Company’s growth by serving these customer bases. A banner department was established. Painting and embroidery of the banners proved to increase the desirability of Toye’s products immensely.

The Company continued to grow under the direction of William Toye’s three sons in the first three decades of the 20th century. Then a seeming disaster, the Great Depression hit the United Kingdom in 1930. Despite massive unemployment, poverty and hunger Toye and Co. maintained full employment throughout the Depression.

In 1937 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne. Their coronation proved most profitable for the Company as it required six months of overtime work for the artisan craftsman of Toye & Co. to produce the required banners, uniforms, epaulets, robes and regalia required for the regal occasion.

To this very day Toye & Co. produces a wide range of ceremonial and fashion products. The Company operates a number of factories in the United Kingdom, including a jewelry production facility in Birmingham and a textile production plant near Coventry. The firm operates a wonderful retail shop on Great Queen Street, Covent Garden, London. There, much of the firm’s highly crafted product is available for consumer purchase.

Toye & Co. is still managed by descendants of the founder, Guillaume Henry Toye. As Royal Warrant holders the firm has proven over more than 300 years of creative work that quality, detail, and dependability are touchstones that every enterprise should strive to attain and perfect in each product or service on offer.

Any 21st century entrepreneur would do well to study these honored businesses and learn the attributes that separate them from competitors.

When visiting Great Britain I always seek out firms displaying the crested sign that indicates the residence of a Royal Warrant Holder. This award is only given to firm’s possessing the absolute highest standards. Just browsing these purveyors of old world craftsmanship is enthralling and educational.

If a consumer walks into almost any mass market retail beauty product counter In the world they will encounter a wide array of cosmetic and skin care products under the Brand name Rimmel. The line seems ubiquitous, common, moderately priced and well-marketed to attract the mid-price shopper. And yet, the Brand has an amazing provenance and is an important pioneering innovator in the creation of the modern cosmetic industry.

Born in France, but reared in London, Eugene Rimmel was the son of the manager of a perfumery on London’s swank Bond Street. As a young man he apprenticed in the shop under the tutelage of his father and became adept at creating scents, lotions and cosmetic products that satisfied the needs of the gentry of the day. In the year 1834 he opened his own perfumery, The House of Rimmel.

In collaboration with his father, Rimmel became one of London’s most successful cosmetic formulators. He quickly became the leading creative force in the emerging beauty
product industry and was especially appreciated for the advances he developed in the areas of hygiene and product efficacy. Eugene Rimmel became the leader in promoting the still nascent habit of regular bathing.

The House of Rimmel became famous for their “vinegar water, pomades and one of the first effective mouth rinses, the precursor to modern mouthwash. However, it was the development of the still rarely used, expensive and unsafe product called “mascara” that made Eugene Rimmel’s reputation.

Mascara was widely known, and users appreciated the cosmetic effect that mascara provided in embellishing and dramatizing the eye lashes. However, the available compounds of the early 19th century were difficult to apply, unstable and very often lead to eye irritation and even disease. Rimmel developed the first commercial, non-toxic mascara.

Rimmel Mascara was an immediate hit. As sales of the mascara exploded so did sales of the Company’s other products. This lead to the organization of international
distributors and Rimmel became one of the first cosmetic businesses to be sold in wide international distribution. Because the Rimmel mascara was so popular, this silver bullet product became the appellation for mascara in many languages. In Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Italian, Turkish, Persian and other languages the word used to designate mascara is “Rimmel”.

Not only did Rimmel pioneer safety and hygiene in its research and development, the Company excelled in marketing the Brand. At a time when consumer product Branding and Marketing were primitive, Eugene Rimmel proved to be a master brand builder. He was among the earliest pioneers of the use of direct mail catalogs. A particular effective technique which he developed was to advertise in theatrical play bills wherever Rimmel products were sold.

One of Rimmel’s proudest achievements was being awarded 10 Royal Warrants from European monarchs for his fragrances, toiletry and cosmetic product creations. Great Britain’s Queen Victoria was a particularly avid supporter of The House of Rimmel.

When Eugene Rimmel died in 1887 the New York Times proclaimed him to have been “The Prince of Perfumers”. He was succeeded in managing the Company by his sons and the family held continual control until 1949. Since then the business has been owned by a series of multi-national corporations. Today the world-wide owners of Rimmel are Coty, Inc.

Today, the importance of Eugene Rimmel’s pioneering efforts has lost significance with contemporary consumers. Rimmel cosmetics seem to be a brand name of no unique value, no personality that we can relate to. The mass market products carrying the Rimmel name compete with a host of other low to mid-priced cosmetic lines. This dilutes the historic provenance and importance that this visionary entrepreneur applied to building his Company and his legacy.

For many years I was intimately involved in the Perfume business as an international distributor, developer and producer of finished Branded fragrance items and raw materials. One of the necessities essential to achieving success in the essential oil industry is to spend considerable amounts of time in Provence, France. This hardly qualifies as hard duty.

In addition to tending to my firms requirements to source packaging and novel perfume formulary I enjoyed wonderful networking opportunities. From producers of rare specialty plants to famous “noses” I met some of the most creative talents in the luxury cosmetic world. They were always suggesting new stores and ateliers for me to visit to discover fresh, unusual, and often ancient, techniques and recipes for concocting some of the most wonderful aural experiences the world has to offer.

One of these visits led me to discover a nearly four century old purveyor of candles. These are not candles as you might envision. Tapers, votives, or glass encased, over-scented illuminations. The candles crafted by Cire Trudon are works of art.

Founded in 1643, Cire Trudon established quickly itself as the “apothecaire” to the Court of Versailles. Claude Trudon, originally a Parisian grocer, developed a wax production method utilizing the highest quality beeswax and then washing this material thru gypsum. Mr. Trudon imported the finest cotton wicks and this lead to a final candle that was the whitest, cleanest burning in Europe.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, before electrification of homes, candles were the preferred light source for use in illuminating space. Royalty and the upper class used copious volumes of candles to bring light to their palaces and lodges. A by-product of this type of lighting source is smoke and discoloration of furniture, frescoes and tapestry.
The Cire Trudon candles minimized these deficiencies and became the preferred purveyor of spatial light initially to the French, then quickly to royalty across Europe.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a great fan of Cire Trudon candles and gave them exclusively as gifts. When his son was born he received but a single present from his Emperor father: a Cire Trudon candle embellished with three solid pieces of gold sculpted as his head.

Cire Trudon avoided the calamity that befell so many candle manufacturers when electrification and the light bulb were introduced. The Company had long before become a cult favorite of the rich and famous owing mainly to its collaboration with the fragrance houses based in Grasse, Provence. The firm’ products tell stories through the wonderful, poetically conceptual scents that have been crafted over the ages by these perfumers.

The Cire Trudon range consists of 22 classic scents. Each tells a story. One of the most famous is “Solis Rex” (Sun King). The floor boards of the Palace of Versailles smell of fir bark and cedar wood. That this amazing aura is captured so magically in these candles is testament to the craft and creative genius of the perfumers of Grasse and the candle makers of Cire Trudon.

Cire Trudon also provides modern consumers proper guidance in the lost art of properly burning the ancient, simple candle. The first burn of a new candle should last about two hours in order to properly release fragrance. When extinguishing a candle use a metal wick dipper to gently push the wick into the wax. This will eliminate smoking which interferes with the scent. Two hours is the ideal time to burn a candle, not all day.

When in Paris a visit to the Cire Trudon store is to step back into time, a time when artisan craftsmanship was paramount. Cire Trudon candles are sold in fine stores around the world. However, they always seem more illuminating when experienced in their original home venue.

Duquesa Marketing

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Contact: Geoff Ficke

859-567-1609

MyBackPackTags™ Announces Engagement of Invurgency to Manage Production Logistics

Engineering Firm to Co-ordinate Manufacture and Design of Award Winning Student Communication System for Spring-2013 Launch

Cincinnati, OH Kristi Vredeveld and Camille Gartner, Co-Creators and Founders of MyBackPackTags, LLC announced today that their juvenile product design firm is contracting Invurgency, LLC to manage the development and manufacturing supply chain for the Spring-2013 launch of their newest line.

“We wanted to engage a firm with direct toy and juvenile product experience and a history of success in this space”, said Ms. Vredeveld. “Fortunately, our Managing Consultants, Duquesa Marketing, introduced us to Invurgency and we quickly realized that we had found a great option to handle manufacture of our line”.

Ms. Gartner added, “The Principals of Cincinnati based Invurgency came out of the toy and juvenile product world and had enjoyed years of senior level management experience with Kenner Toy when it was based in Cincinnati. Their range of contacts and vendors is unparalleled”.

MyBackPackTags will announce later this year the pre-sell and product launch dates and activities to support the introduction of their award winning line of school communications and safety products. The Brand will be supported with a full sales promotion and marketing program.

“We conducted thorough due diligence in vetting candidates to work closely with us to build, brand, market and launch the line of mybackpacktags™ that we designed,” said Ms. Gartner. “Duquesa Marketing was easily the most experienced and creative firm we reviewed. The choice was an easy one.”

“mybackpacktags™ offers unique features and benefits that are not currently offered by any juvenile product manufacturer,” said Nancy Ficke, General Manager of Florence, KY based Duquesa Marketing. “Any parent will be able to readily see the utility that Camille Gartner and Kristi Vredeveld have designed into these products.”

“We are planning a Spring 2013 market introduction,” said Ms. Vredeveld. “Trade shows are currently being researched and we will announce participation shortly. A strong
sales promotional program will be provided to retailers to insure strong sell-through.”

At the 2012 Cincinnati Innovates Regional Innovation Competition, mybackpacktags™ was awarded the “Early Bird” award for the most votes received from May 1st to May 30th. Cincinnati Innovates is an innovation contest that offers cash and in-kind prizes, totaling $100,000, to contestants in the Greater Cincinnati area.

“We are very excited to begin work on this novel Juvenile Product that will be an important communication tool for all parents of young school children”, said Mrs. Ficke. “The line is very timely. Parents are concerned about school safety amid tight budgets and My Back pack Tags is a fun tool that offers peace of mind to teachers and parents”.

“When we interviewed Nancy and Geoff Ficke we knew they had the creativity and experience necessary to take our concept all of the way to market”, said Kristi Vredeveld, Co-Founder of Cincinnati, OH based MY Back Pack Tags. “Duquesa Marketing has a strong track record in developing and successfully launching Toys and Juvenile
Products”.

“The plan is to develop complimentary products for the alpha launch lineup, said Geoff Ficke, President of Duquesa Marketing. “We will be ready to introduce My Back Pack Tags in Spring-2013. The line will be supported with a strong sales promotional program”.

Drop the Dreams and Establish Solid Goals and Plans In Order to Succeed in Start-up Business

Recently I watched a television show which featured Inventions, Small Business Start-ups and Entrepreneurship as central program topics. A panel of experts reviewed product submissions and interviewed the prospective entrepreneurs about various aspects of their projects. The interplay was interesting, and disappointing.

The word that was most commonly used by these first time would-be business owners was “dream”. They each seemed to be enamored of their dream. The dream element was imbued and layered into many aspects of their commercial opportunity. Unfortunately the panel of experts never made the point that dreaming is not doing, and doing is what successful entrepreneurs must aspire to do.

Every successful entrepreneur I have ever counseled has been goal driven. They set realistic goals. These goals may require climbing seemingly difficult hurdles but successful small business start-ups possess the ability to meet and overcome every market challenge. And the challenges are many.

If it were easy to commercialize an invention or launch a small business there would be exponentially more successful, rich entrepreneurs. The fact that it is difficult to convert an idea into a profitable venture is a natural culling device employed by markets to stop those not possessing the necessary makeup from taking the difficult plunge into entrepreneurship. It is hard to start a business from scratch and compete in a cluttered marketplace and it should be.

For every successful entrepreneur that we work with there are at least a hundred that approach, discuss, attempt to sell their concept and are turned away. Virtually all we decline to work with have one thing in common: they are dreamers. It only takes a few e-mail questions or a minute on a phone call to discover if we are talking to the 1% (goal driven) or the 99% (dreamers).

The goal driven inventor, entrepreneur or small business candidate might not possess the knowledge or necessary skill sets necessary to immediately commercialize their plans. But they recognize their shortcomings and are fully committed to working, studying and researching their way toward gaining that knowledge. Whether they are
self-taught, or contract for professional consulting talent successful entrepreneurs innately understand the importance of proper due diligence and having a well vetted plan.

The term “American Dream” is as old as the republic. Whenever we hear the term used colloquially we immediately recognize the speaker as referring to the successes deemed so important in our culture: owning a home or business, education, career choice, etc. These goals are invariably gained through hard work, not dreaming. Success at almost all of life’s enterprises is attained by setting solid goals and having a plan. That the American Dream is achieved by doing, not dreaming, is ironic.

Florence, KY Geoff Ficke, President of international Consumer Product Development and Branding Consulting firm Duquesa Marketing announced today that his group has
appointed Traditions Unlimited, Inc. to handle sales of Lori Leigh Designs™ Earring Chalets™ in the states of Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

“Traditions Unlimited, Inc. has a strong history of success with luxury fashion accessory and jewelry lines”, noted Mr. Ficke. “Their Seattle showroom is stunning and their strong retail relationships were crucial to our decision to roll out this stunning line with Traditions Unlimited’s team”.

“We love lines like Lori Leigh Designs Earring Chalets”, said Tim Larson, President of Traditions Unlimited, Inc. “Products that offer unique consumer features and benefits and include color, style and value are exciting for our agents to represent. These vibrant Earring Chalets are perfect for any lady with an extensive jewelry collection”.

“We are overwhelmed at the strong market response the Earring Chalets have received”, said Nancy Ficke, General Manager of Duquesa Marketing. “We will be announcing a number of agency appointments and retail launches in the coming weeks. International distributors and trade shows are also being organized.